Malaysia Airlines laud crew members
Airlines said its crew behaved superbly in accordance with the airline’s safety training when restraining a passenger who had a mental breakdown mid-air and tried to breach the flight deck.
The airline, in a statement yesterday, also said Flight MH128 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur was operated with sufficient crew, consisting of 10 in-flight crew and two pilots.
“Malaysia Airlines is fully compliant with all international safety standards. No change has been made to the number of crew on our (Airbus) A330 with each ratio of a maximum 29 passengers to each crew member.
“This is one of the lowest ratios of customers in the world on aA330-300. The most common ratio of this aircraft operating in Malaysia from other airlines is 42 or 47 customers per crew member. Malaysia Airlines has one of the highest number of crew on such aircraft in the world, and MH128 on Wednesday night carrying 211 passengers had 21 customers per crew.”
The airline said all technical and cabin crew who operated MH128 on Wednesday night would not be operating on flights until further notice.
“The flight had been rescheduled to operate as MH128D on June 1 (yesterday) departing Melbourne at 8pm local time (6pm Malaysian time) and arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 2.35am local time the next day (today).
“A fresh set of crew will be operating MH128D,” it said, adding that the Australian security authorities had screened all baggage, which would be transferred on the respective flights the passengers were rebooked on.
The statement also said passengers with critical onward connections were given priority to board an earlier flight which departed Melbourne at 1.55pm local time yesterday via MH148.
“(Remaining) passengers have been sent to local hotels in Melbourne and will be departing to Kuala Lumpur today (yesterday). A total of three Malaysia Airlines flights are now scheduled to depart Melbourne today (yesterday).”
It said an investigation led by Australian authorities is currently underway.
Meanwhile, National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) executive secretary Mahmood Abdullah said it was timely for Malaysia Airlines to consider having air marshals on its flights to better handle security threats on board.
In a statement yesterday, Nufam also suggested that the airline employ more male cabin crew on board who were equally important as female cabin crew when facing a disruptive situation.
“It’s imperative for airlines to carry more male crew members especially on long flights as a preventive measure.”
“A situation of that sort will definitely create chaos on the flight.
“Anything could happen if the disruptive passenger was not stopped from entering the cockpit,” it said, adding that the cabin crew were competent in handling such dangerous situations preventing possible worst case scenario from taking place.